Following on from my post a few days ago about some photos I had found of a colonial Anglo-Zulu War game in the mid-1980’s, my friend who provided the armies then still has them! And as it turns out recently he had had them out of their storage containers for the first time in a long while to check their condition and do a bit of a review. He even took photos, so with his generosity, here’s some photos of the full 1/72 plastic colonial wargaming army collection we used for games in the mid-1980’s through to the very early-90’s.
Continue reading “Eighties Colonial War Game Armies”Tag: 1879
Anglo-Zulu War Eighties Wargame
Recently I dug out some very old photos – some of my very first records of wargaming and they included these Anglo-Zulu War game photos played with my good friend Wayne in the mid-1980’s (probably 1985 or possibly 1986). We used 1/72 ESCI figures primarily (as their 1879 British & Zulu Figures, along with the Crimean War Russian Infantry & Artillery, had just been released). We started out with the Anglo-Zulu war (including a multi-player campaign at one point) and then expanded to the Sudan and the North-West Frontier. However this is possibly one of our very first games, and is from the Anglo-Zulu war.
Continue reading “Anglo-Zulu War Eighties Wargame”Rorke’s Drift Ready To Go
It’s been a long process, working on my Anglo-Zulu War Armies, and although the figures are all painted (and have been for nearly 10 years) they still await their basing completed. Luckily the terrain is a happier story, thanks to my good friend Kieran (6mm Wargaming), who has now completed my Warlord Games Rorke’s Drift. As mentioned previously (Rorke’s Drift Update) I pre-ordered this on initial release and it arrived in 2013 – and now, no more than 4 years later, it’s ready for action! While there’s still some minor detailing to finish it off I couldn’t resist putting up some pictures to hopefully inspire myself (and anyone else out there) to get the project onto the table for a game! I hope Kieran’s terrain modelling kills inspire a few other Anglo-Zulu Wargamers as well as me. Continue reading “Rorke’s Drift Ready To Go”
Rorke’s Drift Update
Well it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything directly to do with my own wargaming, and an even longer time since I posted about my 28mm Anglo-Zulu War project! Way back in 2011 Warlord Game’s brought out their fantastic Rorke’s Drift building kitset and fantastic box sets featuring this and lots of accessories and figures from their Anglo-Zulu War figure range, and I quickly snapped up one of their initial special limited edition box sets (Rorke’s Drift Arrives), which I duly passed on to my good mate Kieran (6mm Wargaming) to build up and terrain sculpt for me – as described in Work Begins On Rorke’s Drift back in 2013! Well work has finally progressed and now in 2017 it’s nearing completion…
Work Begins On Rorke’s Drift
Well its been much longer than planned and to get things along I have enlisted my mate Kieran (6mm Wargaming) to build my Rorke’s Drift Models and Base Board for me. I have been inspired by the SSWG’s (Southend & Shoeburyness Wargames Group) wonderful demo game from several years ago (you can see a full set of photos here, it was at Salute 2006 in the UK and I believe has been at shows prior to that), and they still reuse it regularly today (see this blog post from 2011). So Kieran has completed assembly of the buildings and we’ve done two mock-ups of the layout…
Rorke’s Drift Arrives!
My Warlord Games “Rorke’s Drift” box set arrived today… It’s an impressive beast- it was part of their pre-order special on the new Anglo-Zulu War range that’s the premier of their new strategic partnership with Empress Miniatures. At the time I resisted the urge to get the full “Horns of the Buffalo – Rorke’s Drift Collectors Set” which is an absolutely huge collection of toys! This set is the first of their collaborations planned with Empress Miniatures – so you get a swag of Warlord Games plastic figures and terrain pieces, some Empress Miniatures speciality metal figs, and a pair of “4Ground” laser-cut plywood building kitsets of the storehouse and hospital. Continue reading “Rorke’s Drift Arrives!”
I say, it’s the Natal Carbineers!
As part of my Anglo-Zulu War forces I’m adding a small force of Natal Carbineers. The NC was a relatively small force – one of the smallest of the various para-military units in South Africa, numbering I believe just 60 at the time of the war in 1879 (with a total of 71 men serving during the course of the entire war). Of these at least 22 perished at Isandlwana (along with 26 Natal Mounted Police; and incidentally 2 NMP were also present at Rorke’s Drift – one of whom also perished, the other being wounded). The figures I chose are from the (classic) Wargames Foundry range, as these were the best figures I knew of at the time compatible with my existing Foundry, Perry, Castaway, and similar figs; and they can double as Natal Mounted Police at a pinch if needed… Continue reading “I say, it’s the Natal Carbineers!”
Here come the Bengal Lancers
As my colonial forces expand to cover the NWF (North West Frontier) now the Sudan and Zulu Wars are well catered for I have endeavoured to make some units ‘multi-use’ (i.e. suitable for more than 1 campaign/theatre if possible). As such I am constructing 2 Squadrons (or TSATF ‘units’) of Bengal Lancers, one Sikh and one Muslim. Here are some photos of the completed figures so far, based, and just waiting for lance pennants and suitable texturing of their bases… Continue reading “Here come the Bengal Lancers”
Graf von Schnyder
For my Colonial Games using TSATF I like to have a few ‘personality’ figures to add to the games or campaigns over and above the standard units and commanders. Graf von Schnyder is a German Adventurer and Big Game Hunter who has travelled to the southern-most reaches of the Sudan and beyond retracing Samuel Baker’s epic journey, in addition to visiting other parts of Africa and the Pacific. Independently wealthy Schnyder is on a self obsessed mission to become world famous ‘somehow’ with the currently popular ‘Geographic Society’ and earn his immortality!
Continue reading “Graf von Schnyder”Doctor Ernesto Furtwangler
For my Colonial Games using TSATF I like to have a few ‘personality’ figures to add to the games or campaigns over and above the standard units and commanders. An Austro-Hispanic Missionary & Doctor who has done charitable work in Khartoum and Kordofan and is well travelled (South America, India, China). Dr Furtwangler has travelled much of the world doing his missionary work for various Catholic Churches & Societies, and has learned several dialects.
Continue reading “Doctor Ernesto Furtwangler”Order from the Flag Dude Arrives
My order from The Flag Dude has arrived for my Colonial Troops – I’ve been keen to get this as its the first time I’ve ordered from Rick O’Brien and I was looking forward to seeing first hand what his flags are like – now I can push on and complete my units now and give them their nice new flags. I’ve also taken photos of the Flags on arrival to give people an idea of what they look like!
The following is a random selection of flags I have purchased from Rick O’Brien, the Flag Dude, for my 28mm Colonial Forces. I’ve put these up to give anyone interested a good (but quick) view of some of the flags in a higher resolution than is available on Rick’s site.
Continue reading “Order from the Flag Dude Arrives”Unit Organisations in TSATF
One thing I have done [as of 2008] is slightly tweak the organisations of units to try and more closely replicate the real life historical organisations – while still keeping to the general intent Larry Brom put in the rules and approximately the same number of figures per larger formation (Battalion or Regiment). As we are using the same organisations for our Fire & Sword Campaign I ended up putting together Visio Organisation Charts of them as visual organisation reference for Roundie & Kieran (who weren’t familiar with, my perhaps pedantic, idiosyncrasies over organisation tables) and as a result of an unrelated discussion on the Sword & Flame Yahoo! Group it occurred to me they might be of some little interest to one or two people out there (although I’m sure I’m not the first to do so and many will have their own views different to mine)…
Continue reading “Unit Organisations in TSATF”